


Here Is This Life (A Bright Light)

by Krasimer



Series: All Your Tragedies [10]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Credence Barebone Deserves Better, Credence Barebone Gets a Hug, Credence Barebone Lives, Credence Barebone Needs a Hug, Gen, I am going to defend these characters with my life, If I have to, Modesty is going to Hogwarts, Newt's mother is protective, Protective Newt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 07:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15926036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: She was happy and healthy and alive in a way she had never been when they had been in America.(Credence speaks with Modesty -- and then they are found.)





	Here Is This Life (A Bright Light)

When he opened his eyes, it was to Modesty standing over him, her mouth pulled into a smile and her eyes narrowed with happiness.

It had been three weeks since he had regained his body.

Credence smiled back at her, feeling a smile on his own face. “Did you need something?” he asked her, still getting used to his voice. He hadn’t spoken out loud, when he had been a cloud of smoke, and he had never spoken all that much when he had been in the Barebone home. He was finding that he almost liked how he sounded.

Instead of answering, Modesty shook her head and dropped down into the grass beside him, leaning back until her head was pillowed on his shoulder. She was ten, now, a year away from starting at Hogwarts, and she was so far removed from the frightened slip of a child she’d been when Missus Barebone had kept her. She smiled so often, her cheeks flushed from playing in the garden and in the woods.

She was happy and healthy and _alive_ in a way she had never been when they had been in America.

“Are you going to go with Newt when I start school?” her voice was quiet. “I know we talked about having you go with me, but I…I think you’d be happier going with him.”

With a noise that was almost a squawk, Credence sat up, dislodging his sister from his shoulder. “Modesty!” he hissed, feeling his face go red. When she nearly fell backward, he caught her, setting her back upright and shaking his head. “You can’t just ask me something like that,” he chided.

“Why not?” Modesty frowned, shaking her head. “You obviously want to stay with him and I think you’d enjoy watching over the animals more than you’d enjoy staying in classrooms surrounded by people you don’t know.”

She had a point.

Even with how much better he felt, how different the world they lived in now was, Credence still hated crowds. Too many people, pressing in on all sides, a din of voices, pushing and shoving. “That’s fair,” he muttered. Modesty reached out and put her hands over his, ducking down so that she could meet his eyes. “But…” he sighed, then sandwiched her hands between his. “Would you be alright if I went with him?”

“I would write you nearly every day,” Modesty said, her expression suddenly solemn. “Twice on Saturdays. You would have to write back.”

“I would,” Credence felt his smile come back as he reached out and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. They had never been separated for long, not since she had been adopted into the family. Any separation they had gone through had always been short – hours, a few days at the most. A whole school term, apart from each other? “Do you think we can handle being apart that long?” he asked her.

Modesty sighed and breathed out through her nose for a second, a tic she had picked up from Daniel. “I think so.” She said after a few minutes. “I mean, it wouldn’t be forever. We would find each other again.”

“We would,” Credence nodded. “I would never let us be split apart for forever. I suspect that Newt would not let it happen either.” He glanced at the house, watching smoke puff out of the chimney for a few seconds before he turned back to Modesty. “And you are going to _love_ school, I suspect. I believe there are remedial classes for me, but you are going to absolutely _adore_ learning magic. Brilliant and quick-to-learn, that’s you.”

Modesty giggled, all pink-cheeked and happy like a normal girl her age.

Like every last injustice and mistreatment at the hands of their adopted mother had been wiped away.

She nudged her head back against his shoulder, just for a moment, then turned to look towards the woods. “Newt was telling me about Herbology,” she said after a minute. “Studying plants, magical and non-magical. It sounds fun.” She smiled up at him again. “I think I want to do that.”

“That?”

“Plants. I want to grow plants.” Modesty curled into his side once more, her arms wrapped around one of his. “I like it here.”

“I do too.”

“Oh, hello there!”

Credence and Modesty both _froze._

In the nine months since they had moved in with Newt, they had not once seen hide nor hair of his parents. Once, Newt had gone over to the main house and discovered it set up for absence, a note for him left on a table telling him that they’d gone off somewhere warmer for the season. Since then, Newt had gone over to retrieve staple supplies and to check on whatever might need checking on.

This, Credence supposed, was them.

The woman who must have been Newt’s mother looked at them with a smile, clasping her hands together in front of her. “I suppose you must be friends of my son,” she studied them for a minute. “It was only a matter of time before his habit of taking care of creatures would extend to those who could not keep themselves safe.”

Modesty tucked further against Credence, hiding her face in his shoulder. Feeling himself go gaseous at the edges, Credence raised his chin and nodded at the woman. “Credence Barebone, ma’am.” He put an arm around Modesty, feeling almost insanely protective of her at the moment. “This is my little sister, Modesty.” He studied her as she studied them. She was a lovely-looking woman, with the same red hair that Newt had, curls hanging around her face in a seemingly windswept style he couldn’t identify. Her clothes were pretty, the sort of style he’d only ever seen on the well-to-do as they walked past him in New York.

“Oh, you’re American,” the woman took a few steps closer. “My son went to America for a time, did he bring you back with him?”

Behind him, Credence felt someone move to stand behind him. “Mum,” Newt’s voice was tinged with embarrassment, one of his hands dropping to Credence’s shoulder. “Yes, he came with me when I returned from my trip to the States, as did his sister. They came to me and asked if I could help them, and I _could,_ ” he took a deep breath. “And they are here to recover from what was done to them. Modesty is starting at Hogwarts next year.”

“Oh, _Newt,_ ” his mother put a hand over her mouth. “Darling, you’ve…You still surprise me, in so many ways.” She laughed, then moved closer again and crouched down to offer her hand to Credence. “My name is Theodora Scamander,” she smiled at him, a real smile this time, one that didn’t put him on edge, and for a moment she looked just like her son. Credence took her hand, shaking it firmly once and again. “My son is prone to bringing home creatures he feels need extra care – not that you _are_ creatures, but I was wondering if it would ever extend to those he could help who could not…If I might ask, what brought you to Britain?”

“Our mother,” Modesty muttered, still half hidden in the folds of Credence’s coat, pressed against his shoulder. “Wasn’t a nice lady.”

Theodora blinked, something fierce flashing in her eyes for a moment. “Is she where you got your surname from?”

“Mother,” Newt crouched down as well, then sat down on Credence’s left side, taking his hand and squeezing tightly, just once. Ever since Credence had gotten his body back together, he’d done it as a comfort whenever Credence asked him to. It helped him feel like he was actually physical again when he feared he’d gone back to being a cloud of smoke. “Missus Barebone is…”

“Dead,” Credence raised his chin again.

“She deserved it.” Modesty muttered. She’d gotten hold of Credence’s other hand and was holding it tightly between her own, against her stomach. “She left scars on Credence.”

Theodora hummed in response, taking a moment to rearrange herself on the grass in front of them. “Scars. On someone in her care – _her child._ ” Her lips pressed together into a flat line as she leaned on one hand, the other laid out across her lap. “Someone vulnerable in her care.”

All at once, Credence could tell what the fierce look in her eyes had been, the way Newt had warned her off. A surname would help find someone, especially someone who made someone as young as Modesty be glad for a death. If he had to guess, Theodora Scamander cared for living things just as much as her son. She would, in all likelihood, be willing to defend those she saw as defenseless.

Like she knew what he was thinking, Theodora nodded at him.

“I’ve made a few friends,” Newt offered his mother a hesitant smile. “A couple of Americans who believe that the system they live under is…Perhaps not the best. They’re the ones who helped me fight back against Grindelwald—”

“Excuse me, _what?_ ” Theodora turned on her son, all composure gone.

“Ah.” Newt winced. “I hadn’t told you that. I always forget what it is that I wrote to you about…”

Putting her hands to her temples for a minute, Theodora took a couple of deep breaths. “Alright. Tomorrow, I am going to take this young lady and her brother out for new clothes. You’ve managed to keep them clothed thus far, but I suspect you’ve been too distracted to take them for wizarding robes. We are, as a family, going to go to the shops and bring back enough food to supply both houses.” She narrowed her eyes at Newt. “You are going to owl a letter to your brother as well.”

“…Is this a good time to mention the other two who are staying with me?” Newt smiled sheepishly, and Credence wanted, right then, to kiss him. Newt made an unsure gesture at his mother, releasing Credence’s hand, and Credence felt a surge of affection for the man.

Whether or not Newt ever loved him back, in the same way, Credence was in love with him.

“This is a perfect time,” Theodora sighed, shaking her head with a fond expression on his face. “Who are the others? Did you adopt more children while your father and I were gone?”

Newt glanced at Credence, then at Modesty. “I hardly think I’ve adopted more than one,” he told her. “Credence is an adult, no matter whose measure you are using. Twenty-one, now. The others are as well. One of them is a muggle, the other is a wizard who was tortured and held captive by Grindelwald.” He stood up and offered her a hand, helping her stand. With her brushing off her dress, Newt turned and offered a hand to Credence. “Percival can purchase his own robes and supplies, if he needs them. He and Daniel prefer it, actually. They are the ones who walk down to the markets and shops and bring back food.”

“Have you been letting them _starve,_ Newton?” Theodora’s motherly glare was almost enough to make Credence laugh. At his side, helped up by him, Modesty did laugh. “I know I taught you better than that. Though, with the way you ignore caring for yourself, perhaps it is to be expected.”

“We haven’t been starving,” Credence offered, awkward and half-mumbled.

Something in the way he stood must have told Theodora something because she put her hands on his shoulders and smiled at him. “Oh, good.” She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. “I am certainly happy to meet you, Credence. And your sister as well. As I said, tomorrow we will go into town and get you and your sister some wizarding robes – if she is to start at Hogwarts next year, we may also want to get her a wand.” She paused, then looked at Newt again. “Have you gotten her a wand?”

“We haven’t done that yet,” Newt shook his head. “We may also need to spend more time at Ollivander’s than elsewhere.”

“Why is that?”

For a moment, Credence could feel Modesty hesitating at his side. When she spoke up, it was with a trembling voice. “My father’s wand,” she pulled it out of her pocket, the three pieces jittering in her shaking hand. “Missus Barebone snapped it. I want to see if he can repair it. Not fix it – I know it can’t be fixed and be used again, but…”

“Oh,” Theodora’s hands slipped off of Credence’s face and hovered over Modesty’s hand. “Oh, my dear. Your father was a wizard?”

“Missus Barebone adopted us,” Modesty whispered, her eyes cast down. Credence took her empty hand in his own, squeezing it in the same way she always did to his when he felt broken. “She looked for the ones who showed signs of magic. Or – Or the ones who had parents who were magic. Not many of us ended up in the orphanages, but…Some of us did.” She looked up and met Theodora’s eyes. “And she broke his wand.”

“Well,” Theodora nodded. “Ollivander is the finest in the world at what he does. Your father’s wand will never do magic again, but it can be put to rights. We can speak with him, he’ll make it whole again.”

Someone took his hand and when Credence looked, Newt was holding it again, smiling at him.

Meeting Theodora Scamander had made him feel safer, somehow, like he wasn’t just hiding in her son’s home and pretending to fit in.

Knowing that she wanted to protect them made him actually feel like he belonged.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if you guys thought I'd stopped on this series or not, but I have not. I just...Other fandoms called quite loudly for a while. I've got two more pieces to this series in progress, actually. Just need to finish them.


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